MNN: New York and courts retreat: No authority to interfere with Seneca trade

NYS GOVERNOR AND COURTS RETREAT – NO AUTHORITY TO INTERFERE WITH SENECA TRADE

MOHAWK NATION NEWS
http://www.mohawknationnews.com/

Jan. 28, 2009. The colony of New York can only tax its subjects. The Seneca Nation and other Ongwehonwe are not part of this colony. The courts agree that the governor’s decree is illegal and non-enforceable. The Senecas say any attempt to interfere with our trade is an affront to our sovereignty.

On January 25, 2009, the Seneca, our brothers, sisters, friends, allies and supporters gathered at Cattaraugus to affirm that NYS must obey valid laws and agreements. At this time NYS Governor David A. Paterson began back pedaling because of the resistance and in anticipation of this New York State court ruling made on January 27th 2009.

The court confirmed that NYS has no right to interfere in Ongwehonwe sovereignty. Their face saving excuse is that NYS “hasn't created a system to exempt Indians from taxation”!!! In other words, they remembered a bit of history. Or maybe they haven’t finished making the harnesses they were trying to put around our necks to make us rescue their failed economy. We stopped them from putting fake taxation remedies on us.

Just before the event Paterson sent a fax to the Seneca pledging his commitment to a “mutually productive relationship” with the “leadership”. He was referring to Barry Snyder of the tribal council which was set up as a colonial entity. This is not his call to make. We have a right under international law to chose our representative to negotiate with full knowledge and consent with foreign states like New York, the U.S. and Canada.

A deal between Paterson and Snyder to determine our fate is unacceptable. We must speak and our words must be heard. NYS has a history of making shady deals with co-opted “leaders”. The people will not let Paterson canoodle in isolation with so called leadership to make a tax pact that isn’t supported by the people.

We will not be threatened by colonial politicians in Albany who try to interfere with our trade and commerce and illegally force colonial jurisdiction on us. We will continue to make plans to collect tolls on the cars passing on the Interstate Thruway #90 that runs across our land. NYS did not honor the 1954 agreement to pay us $1 for every car that passes on the Thruway over our territory. We have every right to assert authority over our land. We have every right to travel freely on our territory. We have never relinquished any of this.

NYS is violating the Two Row Wampum Agreement, the Canadaigua Treaty 1794 and the U.S. Constitution. The Two Row created the U.S. colony. The Canadaigua Treaty states that, “the U.S. acknowledges that our property is our land and that the U.S. will never claim the same, nor disturb us in the use of our land”. It sets out the separate relationship between our nations. Article 7 states that only the U.S. President can select his designate to petition our leadership on nation to nation conflicts. The U.S. Constitution, Article 2, Section 2, also designates that only the President or his designate can speak with us on national matters, which is what trade and navigation is.

NYS illegally occupies our land. NYS cannot mount blockades on the delivery of trade goods to us. It is purporting it will come up with a scheme to trick, fool us and use force to make us comply with their pronouncement. They know the Seneca people must agree to everything. Otherwise we will resist as we always have. International law supports the protection of our birthright.

NYS constantly uses fraudulent means to make claims to our rights and possessions. It has never respected its agreement to not harass us, the owners of the land. It looks like NYS backed down when they got resistance. Their court system is set up to maintain their for-profit colonial corporation. But it did support us this time. However, it was the courts dedication to legal principles that forced it to recognize some of our rights.
This sounds more like a script for a B-Rate Hollywood movie. NYS is forming another impotent showpiece, the “Office of Indian Affairs”. We hope it is meant to educate themselves on the true history of the Ongwehonwe and their obligations to us.

Snyder is only familiar with NYS and Federal Indian Law which have nothing to do with our national sovereignty. We know any agreement will be used as a precedent to apply their one-sided edicts to other Ongwehonwe. Snyder is not authorized to negotiate on behalf of the “Keepers of the Western Door”. Only the people can do that through long established protocols. We will continue to live by the Kaianerehkowa, the Great Law of Peace.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ ... 5407.story http://www.buffalonews.com/258/story/561569.html Posted by: MNN Mohawk Nation News www.mohawknationnews.com Comments can be posted on www.letstalknativepride.blogspot.com jmkane1220@aol.com Katenies20@yahoo.com kahentinetha2@yahoo.com Note: Your financial help is needed and appreciated. Please send your donations to PayPal at www.mohawknationnews.com, or by check or money order to “MNN Mohawk Nation News”, Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0. Nia:wen thank you very much. Go to MNN “New York State” category for more stories; New MNN Books Available now! Purchase t-shirts, mugs and more at our CafePress Store http://www.cafepress.com/mohawknews; Subscribe to MNN for breaking news updates http://.mohawknationnews.com/news/subscription
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Contact: NYS Gov. David A. Paterson 518-474-8390 www.state.ny.us/governor/contact/index.html; New York State Legislative Session Information page at http://public.leginfo.state.ny.us
president@whitehouse.gov ; US Dept. Justice askdoj@usdoj.gov; European Union public.info@consilium.eu.int ; Mohawk Nat Council Chiefs mohawkna@slic.com; OAS multimedia@oas.org ; UN Comm Human Rights tb-petitions@ohchr.org; IMFmschrader@imf.org; hotline@worldbank.org ; info@gatt.org; supporter.services@int.greenpeace.org ; prsj2cr@sol.racsa.co.cr; “Kathryn Grant Madigan, President, NYS Bar Association, 1 Elk St., Albany, N.Y. 12207 318-463-3200 %Andrew R. Bush, Director, arush@sysba.org

Early AIM Photos

Photos by Cornelia Vandenberg: Phil Crazy Bull, Bill Soza, Vernon Bellecourt and Lenny Foster in Albuquerque; Lenny Foster, Navajo; Anti sludge dumping demonstration at Torrez Martinez Indian Nation in California against sludge dumping by San Diego in the late 90's; Bob Robideau with a young brother from Costa Rica; Chili Yazzie with XIT during an Indigenous Sovereignty Conference in Albuquerque. Thanks to Cornelia Vandenberg for sharing these photos with Censored News.

Migrant abuse in Virginia jail led to death

Detainees Expose Medical Neglect in 11/08 Death at Piedmont Regional Jail
Advocacy Groups Warn Against Plans for New Detention Center

English – Jeff Winder (434) 906-0421 jeff@thepeopleunited.org
Spanish – Sue Frankel-Streit (540) 717-1051
littleflowercw@wildmail.com

FARMVILLE, Virginia – As reported in today's New York Times,
immigrant detainees in Farmville's Piedmont Regional Jail have come
forward to expose conditions of medical neglect that contributed to
death of Guido Newborough in November of last year. Eyewitnesses
report that Newborough was in intense pain for two weeks, frequently
asking for medical attention. They maintain that he never received
that attention, but was instead knocked to the floor by guards and
dragged on his back to the isolation unit where he remained until he
suffered the massive heart attack and stroke that led to his death.

Jeff Winder of regional advocacy group The People United was contacted
by several detainees for help in getting the truth out. "They were
outraged when they saw the statement from ICE in the local newspaper,"
Winder said. "They are afraid of repercussions by ICE or by the jail
guards because they are speaking out, but were so moved by Guido
Newborough's death that they felt compelled to take the risk and
expose the conditions that exist in Piedmont."

The People United and other groups have been working in opposition to
plans by Farmville and the private company Immigration Centers of
America (ICA) to construct a new 1,000 bed, for-profit immigrant
detention center in Farmville. Despite the fact that ICA has no
experience in managing detention centers, Farmville town Manager
Gerald Spates has assured The People United that all is well because
"They plan to bring in key staff from the Piedmont Regional Jail."

Advocacy groups are not reassured by this assertion. "The medical
neglect in Piedmont Regional Jail is unconscionable," said Sue
Frankel-Streit, another organizer with the People United. "This is the
second time in two years that a detainee has died here amidst
allegations of medical neglect," she continued referring to another
New York Times article which reported that in 2006, detainee Abdouli
Sall died in the jail while huddled against a clothes dryer for warmth
after being denied his prescription medication.

News of the planned detention center has fueled the fear growing among
Virginia's immigrant families in the wake of increased ICE jobsite
raids over the past year. "Immigrants are here looking for work in
order to feed their children," Said Margarita Gonzales, a native of
Mexico, as she addressed the Farmville Town Council last month. "It's
not necessary to put us in jail. . . We hope that you will leave us
to live in peace. We're only trying to create secure lives for
ourselves, just as you are."

ICA has promised a windfall to Farmville's economy, but advocates warn
this may not pan out. "Last month, ICE cancelled its contract with a
detention center in Wyatt, RI after a scandal surrounding a death
similar to Guido Newborough's erupted there," said Winder. "Farmville
could find itself in the same situation - with a brand-new jail that
sits empty and the reputation of a prison town where suspicious deaths
have occurred."

Interviews are available with Piedmont detainees as well as immigrants
and citizens working against the proposed detention center from their
own communities of Tidewater, Richmond, Northern VA, Fredericksburg,
Charlottesville, Louisa, Harrisonburg and Lynchburg.
For more information visit http://www.thepeopleunited.org